Kiss of Death
by PhantasyPhan13
Summary: What if everyone's favorite frosty-haired winter spirit decided to save Pitch from his ultimate fate? As Jack witnesses Pitch's horrific end, something inside him stirs, and he wonders if the boogeyman really deserves such a cruel fate after all. Without time to think, Jack jumps in and sacrifices his life for Pitch-but did he truly make the right decision? Alternate ending of ROTG
1. Sacrifice

Kiss of Death

The golden eyes that stared frantically into Jack's own chilled Jack to the core of his being. Those eyes were filled with absolute terror and pain, panic and desperation. Despite all that the owner of those eyes had done to the Guardians, Jack couldn't help but feel himself filled with empathy when he stared back at the horrified countenance of Pitch Black as his Nightmares dragged him into the shadowy depths of the earth.

Really, when he thought about it, Jack realized that they weren't so different after all. Both of them wanted to be believed in, adored, told as bedtime legends to children throughout the centuries to come. The only difference between them was that one of them brought joy and safety to children, while the other brought terror and sleepless nights. Or did he have it all wrong? Was _Jack _the one leading the children into the darkness, and was Pitch their protector?

After all, Jack had created quite a few deadly snowstorms and avalanches during his three hundred years. He didn't like to think about the outcomes-the thrill of bringing to life something so wild and uncontrollable and chillingly beautiful pushed aside the hesitancies to make a catastrophe that could result in the deaths of thousands. And what about all those times he'd nipped people's noses, fingers, and toes? Hadn't many an innocent soul fallen prey to his persistent chill and been dragged away by the grim specter of Death? Perhaps fear couldn't kill people, but it was just as deadly as every snowstorm in the land.

Then again, there were times when Jack couldn't deny that fear had saved the lives of him or his family. With a sudden vividness, he recalled a time when he and his sister had been walking together in the woods when a sudden noise had startled her. Jack had teased her and tried to convince her that there was nothing to be afraid of, but his sister kept insisting that something was really out there. After coercing her into walking a couple of steps, she had begun to whimper, and Jack had given in and agreed to take her home. It was only the next day that he had learned that a pack of wolves had been roaming through the very woods he and his sister had been in. The vicious canines had attacked a sleigh carrying food and passengers to a nearby village. The wolves had mauled ten of the thirteen people riding in the sleigh and killed three. Their grisly fate would have been shared by Jack and his sister for sure if fear hadn't coaxed her to return home before tragedy struck.

Jack looked again at Pitch and felt a pang of doubt. How could he let Pitch die this way? Why should he let a man no different than he suffer a terrible fate? He wavered for a moment, remembering all the times when Pitch had attempted to manipulate him into joining him in his miserable darkness. He recalled their first encounter in Tooth's palace; their battles in Burgess; their meeting in Pitch's dark lair; and their argument in Antarctica.

Jack narrowed his brilliant blue eyes as he recounted their long talk together in that icy, forsaken place. Pitch had tried to cajole him into joining his side, but Jack saw through his honey-sweet lies and refused to stay at Pitch's side. He couldn't deny that Pitch's vision of a world where both of them were believed in was tempting, but Jack could never imagine harming an innocent child. He wanted to be remembered as a funloving protector of innocence and joy, not as a figure that returned to haunt childrens' darkest dreams at the most foreboding hours of the night.

Besides, he knew as well as anyone that Pitch had no heart. All he wanted was to cause pain and fear among bright-eyed little ones and create a world full of paranoid, cynical people where love and hope ceased to exist. There would be nothing beautiful or heartening about Pitch's vision of the world. All there would be was endless suffering and terror. Jack may not have been the gentlest or wisest of Guardians, but he didn't want to live in a world like that. A world without fun or beauty would be as joyless to him as it would doubtlessly be to children. So he had done the only rational thing to do under those circumstances: He denied Pitch's opportunity to stand by his side.

When Jack had rejected Pitch's offer, Pitch had shown him Baby Tooth, whom he was holding hostage, and forced him to hand over his staff, the precious artifact that Jack believed to be the source of his power. After Jack had handed it over, Pitch had refused to release Baby Tooth, but fortunately for Jack, she managed to free herself before he had to rescue her. Unfortunately, after Baby Tooth had freed herself, Pitch had viciously slammed him into a glacier and hurled him down a crevice, leaving Jack bruised and unconscious for almost two hours.

The hopelessness that had crashed down on Jack's shoulders when he had awakened alone in the crevice filled his chest once again as he watched Pitch slowly being dragged to his demise. Even after all that Pitch had done to him, it didn't seem fair to leave him to such a horrific doom and merely watch stolidly as though it were only a butterfly flitting through the air.

Maybe, in a time before Jack had existed-or even the Guardians had existed-Pitch had been a good man with a family and an honorable reputation. Maybe some tragic event had befallen him and turned him into the twisted shadow that he was today. Perhaps, deep down in the depths of his coal-black heart, Pitch still had a glimmer of love left. All these years living alone probably hadn't done anything to improve his view of the world. Jack knew that Pitch could have been him if he'd been invisible for only a few centuries longer. What if he had been Pitch? What if there was a chance that somewhere deep inside, enough light remained in Pitch's soul to redeem him? What if he'd been wrong about Pitch's intentions all along?

Jack knew what he had to do to make things right, but he hesitated, wondering what the other Guardians would think if they knew what he was about to do. He knew that if he were Pitch, he'd want to be given a second chance. But after all these years, he'd finally become recognized and beloved. He was no longer invisible, and he'd fought for and won the respect of the most famous childhood legends in the world. All of that could disappear with the next breath he would take. That breath would be his last, but Jack would rather die knowing that he'd saved the life of an innocent man rather than living on with the guilt that he could have helped a person not so different from himself. Besides, maybe Pitch would honor his legacy by changing his ways and helping to protect the children of the world if Jack sacrificed himself to save Pitch.

There was only one way to find out. He would have to leap and hope that Pitch would trust him enough to let Jack save the tormented boogeyman. Jack took a deep breath, preparing himself for what would likely be the last leap he took in his life. Before he lunged, he took one last loving look at the Guardians and the children staring after Pitch with mixed awe and terror. Jack knew he'd miss them, but he'd died for his sister once and he was more than willing to die again to save the one who needed to be saved the most.

"Goodbye, Guardians. Goodbye, Jamie. I…I'll see you again sometime, I promise," Jack whispered solemnly, blinking to erase the tears from his eyes. The shock on the Guardians' and Jamie's faces was the last thing he saw before he lunged forward and grabbed Pitch's wrist like a vise.

"Jack Frost! What do you think you are doing?" Pitch hissed.

Pitch tried to wrench his hand from Jack's, but the boyish winter spirit clung firmly to the boogeyman's wrist. "Trust me. I know what I'm doing. You're…you're not going to die. But you have to believe in me," Jack whispered.

Pitch narrowed his eyes, but he gave Jack a nod of consent. Gulping back tears of fear and sadness, Jack pulled with all his might, struggling with every fiber in his being to wrench Pitch away from the maddened Nightmares. The dark horses screamed and valiantly attempted to drag Pitch down into the depths of his twilight lair, but Jack combated their every inch of strength with another two inches of his own. Sweat dripped down his face and fell onto the icy pond, where it froze like angels' tears. He had no intention of losing this battle. Of all the fights he'd been thrown into in the past few days, none of them were as difficult as the one he was fighting now.

Not only did Jack have to fight against the strength of the Nightmares; he also had to battle his own conscience. As he yanked Pitch to safety, little voices whispered in his ears like invisible sprites: _Don't do it. You know better than that. Pitch is cold and evil, and he'll stop at nothing to destroy the childhoods of millions of children around the globe. You're betraying Jamie and the Guardians and everyone you ever cared about. Why are you doing this for him? He doesn't deserve it. Why is he even worth saving? The ones who need to be saved have already been saved. There's no need to try to help a pitiful shadow like him-he's already past help._

"SHUT UP!" Jack screamed aloud. The minute he spoke, he knew that everyone watching would be giving him strange looks, but he didn't care. He had to say it in order to dissuade the malignant voices invading his head. He knew, deep down inside, that what he was doing was the right thing. Despite all that Pitch had done, he didn't deserve the cold, cruel fate that was now staring him in the face.

Nobody deserved that. It didn't matter how evil or good a person was-nobody deserved to be abandoned. Nobody deserved to be thrown into obscurity forever. Jack had narrowly been saved from such a fate himself by the belief of one precious boy, and he didn't intend for Pitch to fall into heartless oblivion. If there was no one to believe in him, then Jack wanted to be the first person. He'd show the Guardians what true empathy meant. There was precious little mercy left in this world, and what little was left Jack knew that Pitch deserved to have.

Jack could feel that Pitch was only a few yards away from safety now. He'd managed to drive most of the Nightmares away with a few blasts of ice-cold lightning from his staff, and only a few remained. The stubborn mares clung to the tail of Pitch's coat like mussels on a rock, clamping their teeth on Pitch's robe and refusing to back down.

"Come on, come on," Jack muttered to himself as he began to summon the power that would slay the Nightmares and free Pitch from his own fear. Tapping into the very core of his being, Jack drew upon the wintry energy charging through his veins and catapulted the Nightmares with the strongest surge of power that he'd ever unleashed. The swelling wave of ice power was even stronger than the one that he'd managed to summon when he'd battled Pitch after Sandy's demise. It swarmed through his being like a shockwave and exploded from his fingertips, channeling through his staff and pulverizing the Nightmares like vaporized stone. In less than two seconds, the last of Pitch's fearsome steeds were little more than a pile of sizzling black dust.

Panting, Jack dragged Pitch to safety before collapsing in an exhausted heap on the ice. "You're safe now," Jack whispered to the rather startled boogeyman. Pitch stared at him with disbelieving eyes, too stunned to even utter a word. The boogeyman blinked at Jack with wide eyes filled with astonishment. He looked as though he'd never understand why Jack had suddenly decided to pull him from the brink of oblivion, putting himself at risk to save the Nightmare King. All that Jack could do was smile faintly in reply. He knew that he'd done the right thing, and no matter what the Guardians or anyone else thought of him from now on, he knew that he'd never regret his decision.

Jack tried to sit up, but gasped in pain as his exhaustion kicked in fully and darkness began to overtake him. He hadn't realized until now just how much of a toll his spectacular attack had taken on him. The last time he'd released a surge of icy magic so powerful, he'd become so exhausted that he'd blacked out for a couple of seconds and would have fallen to his death if Tooth hadn't flown up and rescued him. If a blast of energy a little less than half the size of the one he'd just unleashed had caused him to lose consciousness temporarily, then who knew what would happen to him now?

As these fearful thoughts entered his weary mind, Jack saw to his horror that a small band of Nightmares had gathered around him, boiling malice emanating from their glowing ember eyes. Jack weakly attempted to fight back with a couple blasts of ice magic from his staff, but the feeble flickering sparks that emitted from the staff weren't enough to deter the powerful beasts. Instead, they danced away, almost teasingly, before charging towards Jack and grabbing the hood of his hoodie in their jaws. Then they proceeded to drag Jack across the ground towards the hellish hole in the ground that they had nearly pulled Pitch into.

"NO!" Jack screamed, struggling to escape from the grasp of the Nightmares. Try as he might, he simply wasn't strong enough to fight back against the Nightmares, or even make them drop him. One last time, he attempted to blast them away with his power, but this last act of resistance only made him even more exhausted than before. Finally giving in to the wrath of the Nightmares, Jack let himself go limp as dark spots began to fill his closing eyes. It seemed like hours, but the time it took for the Nightmares to drag him to the mouth of the whole probably only took a few minutes.

Terrified, Jack lifted his head to look back at Jamie and the rest of the Guardians one last time before he was dragged to his doom. All of the Guardians looked absolutely horrified, but the look of sorrow and fright that shone on Jamie's face cut into Jack's heart like a sharpened icicle. It was almost like having to die for his sister a second time. Of course Jamie wasn't his sister, but the bond that he'd shared with the precious little boy was even closer to Jack's heart than the ties of the other Guardians-it was almost as if Jamie were a member of his family.

"JACK!" Jamie screamed futilely as tears streamed down his face. He tried to charge towards the Nightmares to rescue the wintry spirit, but North grabbed the collar of Jamie's shirt and held him back. Jamie tried to argue with the gigantic beefy Cossack, but North's stern voice stopped Jamie cold. Still, Jamie continued to stare out after Jack with tear-filled eyes, reaching his arm out to Jack as though he wished he could snatch Jack back to safety.

The pitiful look speared Jack's heart once again, and a limited but powerful sense of resolve flooded through him. Who was he to lie dying when the boy whom he cared the most about couldn't stand to see him go? Angrily, Jack raised his staff and thrashed at the Nightmares, hoping against hope that they would release him. The Nightmares retaliated by beating him into submission with their hooves before leaping into the hole, bringing Jack with them.

A horrible scream tore from Jack's mouth as the world above rapidly vanished from his sight. "NOOOO!" he screamed again, reaching for the light as though it were a handle to pull him away from the darkness. The only things he could see were the steel-blue winter sky and the bright light of the full moon above as he fell into nothingness.

The moon had always been an inscrutable and oftentimes frustrating figure, but for the first time Jack felt as though the moon were truly heartless. "How could you?" Jack whispered hoarsely as curiously warm tears fell down his cheeks. "All these years, you never told me who I was, and when you finally tell me who I am and let other people see me, you take everything away from me! What kind of a man are YOU? Why would you want me to become a Guardian if my destiny was to die in the first place? Why, Manny? Why?! HOW COULD YOU?! And now Jamie…..he won't ever see me again…."

Jack's sobbing completely overcame him, and for several minutes he drowned in his own tears as he fell ever more swiftly. By the time he recovered, only a sliver of the outside world remained in his blurry vision. "Please….protect them…especially Jamie," Jack pleaded hopelessly. He knew there was nothing more he could do, but he'd prayed to the moon to protect his sister before he'd drowned, and he assumed that she'd continued on without him and grown up into a upstanding young woman without any incident. Hadn't she? There was no way to tell for sure. Now that he was gone, only fate would tell what would happen to Jamie and the rest of the Guardians.

As the moon vanished completely from his sight, Jack's final thought was that he wondered if he'd truly made the right choice after all. Was it really worth it to die for a man who'd manipulated him so cruelly and tried on more than one occasion to murder him? Or had he simply placed everyone he cared about in mortal danger once again?

Jack would have pondered this question more, but just at that moment the Nightmares yanked him through the rest of the tunnel and tossed him into the abyss. And then everything went black.


	2. Aftermath

Darkness. After falling through the empty nothingness for what seemed like an eternity, that was the first thing that Jack remembered. It was dark, and it was as silent as a tomb. And Jack was scared.

Gasping, Jack managed to pull himself into an upright position. Every single inch of his body ached, and his pounding head made it difficult to focus. Squinting through the desolate gloom that surrounded him like a death shroud, Jack tried to make sense of the blurry gray shapes that surrounded him.

There were strangely carved formations of stone overhead that appeared to be baskets or cages. At the far end of the room, which seemed to be a cave, lay a massive globular object that twinkled with a thousand golden specks of light. Besides the globe and the hanging cages, there didn't seem to be any other pieces of furniture in the rather barren abode. The only other thing that seemed to reside in the cavern was an oppressive sense of darkness that pressed down on Jack and made it difficult for him to breathe.

Straining to remember what had happened, Jack slowly blinked in an attempt to clear his fuzzy vision. It took forever, but when Jack was finally able to see clearly again, he realized with a jolt that he was sitting in the middle of Pitch's underground lair. Confused, Jack ran his fingers through his snow-white hair and tried to figure out what he was doing so far away from light and the realm of the living. Was he having a nightmare? Or had Pitch kidnapped him in his sleep and taken him here for whatever sinister reason? Everything seemed so surreal, yet Jack felt so alive that it was impossible to determine what was real and what was merely a figment of his imagination.

Sluggishly, Jack reached out his arm and let his hand brush against the rocky floor. He recoiled in horror when he felt the cold hard stone beneath his fingertips. It wasn't a dream after all. For whatever terrible, twisted reason, Jack was really stranded in Pitch's lair with no hope of escape.

As Jack came to this realization, a flood of memories gushed into his brain-the Nightmares; rescuing Pitch; being dragged away, screaming for dear life, taken away from everyone he loved; total blackness and the numbness of sleep. "No…" Jack whispered, reeling from the sudden revelation. He took a deep breath, telling himself that there was nothing to be afraid of here. He had his staff and his wits; surely those were enough to keep him alive while he navigated the lair. He could already see a stream of light emanating from the ceiling, and when he scrunched up his eyes and stared hard at the blotch of light, he could see a miniscule hole in the roof of the cavern. It wouldn't take him very long to fly up through the hole and return to the pond. Escaping would be as easy as frosting a window on a wintry morning. There was only one catch-was he strong enough to stand and summon the wind?

Hesitantly, Jack attempted to rise but moaned as dots swam before his eyes and his head throbbed even more intensely. Although he sat still for several minutes afterwards, he couldn't get the headache to go away. Jack closed his eyes and rubbed his head, but the pain in his skull only increased in intensity from one second to the next. With every passing moment, any chances of Jack finding the strength to stand became slimmer. Jack was beginning to believe that any attempt to escape from Pitch's eerie domain would be close to impossible if the headache got any worse.

There was only one thing left to do, and Jack wasn't even sure if his idea would prove successful. Still, he had no intention of staying down here forever, so surely it was worth a try. Jack sighed deeply, sending a strand of wispy white hair flitting away from his forehead, and shut his eyes. "Wind, take me back," Jack commanded.

Jack waited to feel the familiar chilly sting of the wind at his back, but nothing happened. Frustrated, Jack focused what little energy he had and tried again. "Wind, take me back."

Still nothing happened. Jack threw his staff across the ground in fury and banged his fist on the floor, sending a resounding echo through the chamber. "Why won't you come? I'm not staying here forever! Bring me back!" Jack yelled.

At last, Jack began to feel a nippy little breeze tugging at his back. "It's about time you came," Jack grumbled. He leaned over and reached for his staff-he had no intention of leaving it behind. Only the Man in the Moon knew what could happen if Pitch got his hands on Jack's precious staff. Jack shuddered as he imagined all the havoc that Pitch would undoubtedly wreak with it and gripped it firmly in his fingers.

Leaning heavily against the wall, he allowed the wind to lift him into the air. Soon, Jack was gently drifting like a snowflake towards the opening in the ceiling of the cavern. He could already feel the fresh air on his face. Jack grinned like a hyena and did a backflip of joy. Soon, he'd be free from this nightmare and back with the other Guardians once again.

_The Guardians…what will they think of me when I return? They don't know what it's like to be alone for so long. They won't understand the reason why I saved Pitch. They'll just think I'm a traitor, _Jack realized. As this thought entered his foggy brain, he paused in his flight and hovered uncertainly in the stale air. He hadn't had much time to think it over when the Nightmares had begun to drag Pitch away, but now that he had some time to reflect upon his actions, he was beginning to doubt that he had done the right thing.

Was it really worth it to save a man as evil as Pitch? Perhaps Pitch didn't really deserve to be forgotten, but surely he didn't deserve to be remembered. All that Pitch wanted was to be believed in, but the belief he gained came from fear and suffering. He was a cautionary tale to the Guardians; an example of who they could become if they forgot why they protected children in the first place and cast their noble centers aside to replace them with merely a desire to be seen. He had no place in the world; after all, fear only corrupted hearts and made them less receptive of miracles and light. Why should a man like that continue his existence in a world where fear was no longer needed?

Still….the terror Jack had seen in Pitch's eyes had given him pause. He knew that feeling far too well-the fear of being dragged into oblivion and erased from the consciousness of the world. Every time he'd been passed through by ignorant humans, that fear had haunted the corners of his mind and driven him to unbearable anguish. Every time he'd faced Pitch, he'd always worried, deep down inside, that he might not live to fight another day. He could hardly remember a moment in his pre-Guardian existence where he hadn't dreaded that the day would come when he would cease to exist altogether.

Unlike Pitch, though, he'd helped children to believe in the Guardians, and in the course of assisting the Guardians in their battle against Pitch, he'd discovered his true calling in life. Now, he couldn't imagine for a moment never existing, never being just around the corner with a friendly snowball and a mischievous grin in hand. It was even more difficult for him to imagine leading a life where children ran from him in horror and he ceased to be little more than a scary story told around campfires in the dead of night.

Even before he'd become a Guardian, he'd protected his sister from the dangers of their little colonial world. Although he no longer had to look out for his sister, Jack now held the fate of the children of the world in his hands. He knew he'd gladly sacrifice his life to keep them safe, just as he'd given his own life to keep his sister alive. But now that Jack had given that same mercy to Pitch, would the Guardians still trust him, or would he once again wander the world, unseen and unheard by anyone?

There was only one way to find out. Taking a deep breath, Jack willed the wind to carry him further towards the light. His reunion wouldn't be a pretty one, but Jack was willing to risk the distrust of the other Guardians. He knew that he had to take responsibility for his actions, and he was willing to face the uncertainty of his companions because he knew that, deep down inside, whatever Pitch had done to them, the boogeyman was just as worth saving as any child that they protected. It didn't matter whether he was good or evil. Pitch was still a living, breathing person with a soul and hopes, dreams, and fears. When Jack really thought about it, Pitch wasn't all that different from the other Guardians or even the children who believed in them. Why should he not receive the same trust and compassion that the Guardians gave to the children of the world? Perhaps Pitch would be willing to change his ways if he was given a chance to contemplate what he had done. Maybe he would keep his wrath in check and give the Guardians the same mercy that Jack had given him now that he knew what it was like to be saved.

A sinister whinny jolted Jack from his introspection. Raising his staff, Jack glanced around the lair to determine the cause of the whinny. Surely there couldn't be any Nightmares here in the lair? Then again, the ones who'd dragged him here might still be lurking in the corners of the cavern, waiting to jump out and scare Jack to death.

Jack forced himself to appear calm and collected. Although his heart was beating furiously in his chest and his mind was racing, he knew that if he showed fear for even a moment, the Nightmares would easily overpower him. Another whinny pierced the veil of silence in the lair. To Jack's horror, the whinny he'd heard sounded even closer than the first.

"W-who's there?" Jack called out shakily. Two more bone-chilling whinnies answered him. A few seconds later, another chorus of whinnies echoed throughout the lair. Then, one by one, twelve pulsating Nightmares emerged from the shadows to form a circle around Jack. They shook their shifting manes and stomped their feet, snorting as they stared at Jack with glowing eyes full of hunger and rage. Jack sliced through three of them with his staff, but as soon as the unlucky Nightmares dissolved into dust, four more popped up to replace the ones he'd slain.

"Well, I hate to run, but…" Jack gulped. He turned around swiftly and shot into the air, determined to fly through the gaping hole in the ceiling before the Nightmares could catch him. As soon as Jack flew off, though, the Nightmares let out a petrifying shriek and chased after him like a malevolent murder of crows. Jack blasted several away with his ice power, but every time he took down a Nightmare, a new one would spawn from the dust of the fallen steeds. By the time Jack was two feet from the exit, there were more Nightmares chasing him than there had been before.

"Come on, come on, you can do it, almost there," Jack muttered to himself. He forced the wind to carry him faster and reached desperately for the light streaming through the exit. A Nightmare lunged forward and grabbed his hood, dragging him down through the air. Jack screamed in fury and hit the Nightmare straight in the heart with a blast of ice, and the evil creature shrieked and exploded in a shower of black dust.

"Hah! Got you," Jack snickered. He soared through the air, taking out even more Nightmares as he finally made it to the exit. Grinning wickedly, he flew out the opening and into the bright early-morning sunlight, whooping in triumph.

He landed on the ice of the pond and scanned the area, searching for any signs of the other Guardians. Strangely enough, they didn't seem to be anywhere nearby. "Huh," Jack mused aloud. "You'd think that they'd stay behind after one of them got dragged underground by Pitch's Nightmares…"

Jack then took a tentative step forward and called, "Hello?"

Nobody answered. Jack called again, but still not a single voice answered his burning question. Jack's heart skipped a few beats. Why would they leave him alone here? The Guardians did not strike Jack as the kind of people who would abandon one of their party in a time of danger. He knew that they'd at least try to save him before giving up. After all, he was one of them now. Besides, even if the Guardians left, the children would still be there and they'd try to help Jack for sure. Even if the other kids didn't, Jack knew that Jamie would never leave him to die. There was no reason for either the Guardians or the children to flee now that he was no longer a neutral party. There was no way that they'd given up on him…unless-

Jack whirled around, breathing hard. No, it couldn't be possible. The Nightmares hadn't taken the other Guardians. And there were too many children for Pitch to be able to kidnap unseen. If Pitch had….well, Jack didn't want to think about it. All he knew was that he had to save his friends. Confidently, Jack took another step forward and released a dazzling wave of icy power rushing towards the Nightmares that had followed him aboveground. If Pitch thought that he could control Jack and harm the Guardians and Jamie, then he didn't know who he was dealing with.

Jack waited for the Nightmares to explode into a million tiny particles of dust, but to his surprise, the wave didn't affect the Nightmares at all. Instead, they galloped forward and sunk their teeth into his arms. Jack tried to fight back, but the Nightmares easily overwhelmed him, feeding off his growing fear. Now that the Nightmares sensed his terror, he was no match for them. Running like the wind, they flew towards the hole and began to pull Jack back down into the depths.

"NO!" Jack screamed. Frantically, he attempted to break free of the Nightmares, hitting them with his staff. The Nightmares merely dropped him, watching with cold eyes as Jack fell to his inevitable doom. Jack tried to summon the wind to save himself, but the wind seemed to have abandoned him. Jack closed his eyes, overcome with despair. Pitch had finally defeated him. Now, there would be nothing to stop Pitch from taking down the rest of the Guardians and infecting the children with fear. No longer would hope or joy or wonder or dreams or beautiful memories reside in their hearts. The only thing left in the world now was fear, and everything worth living for would cease to exist.

A cruel chuckle echoed throughout the lair as Pitch's shadow appeared on the wall. "Not so powerful now, are you, Jack Frost?" Pitch sneered, his voice booming and echoing off the walls of the cavern. "This is why you shouldn't have tried to defy me when I offered you a chance to stand by my side. We would have created a beautiful world together-a world where we would have been believed in. But no-instead you attack me and side with those awful Guardians. Now you have to suffer the consequences for your choice. I bet you're regretting it now, aren't you, little winter spirit? If only you had chosen darkness, then none of this would have had to happen…"

"I'LL NEVER JOIN YOU! NEVER!" Jack screamed. He reached an arm towards Pitch, as though to hit him, but Pitch merely cackled once again and disappeared into the darkness. A wave of hopelessness swept over Jack and caused tears to trickle down his cheeks. There was nothing he could do now. Pitch had won, and he had failed the Guardians forever. Now, he would truly be forgotten, lost to the sands of time. His name would become a faint echoing whisper, spoken by the few people who still remembered him in the Dark Age that Pitch would cast over the world. If only Jack hadn't spared Pitch, then none of this would have happened. The world was full of fear now, and he knew that he was the only one to blame.

Jack glanced down and realized that he was mere seconds from hitting the floor and breaking his neck. He tried to choke out a last word-a goodbye, a declaration of defiance, a prayer for the wellbeing of the children he had once protected. Nothing came except a heartrending sob. That was all he was-a trickle of failure and sadness that would disappear and only remain as a faded memory. Jack let out one last cry as the ground rushed up at him. A second later, a resounding crack reverberated through the chamber, and Jack's snapped neck fell back upon the floor.

Suddenly, a panicked female voice shouted his name. "Jack!"

The chamber faded into blackness, and Jack could faintly feel a tiny hand shaking his shoulder. "Jack! Wake up! Y-you're having a nightmare!"

Jack groaned and struggled to lift his eyelids, which seemed to be weighed down by boulders. Eventually, he opened his eyes and managed to make out a blurry figure leaning over him. The figure had glimmering green feathers and wide violet eyes that stared down at him with concern. Jack immediately recognized her. "Tooth…" he croaked, trying to lift his head. A horrible pain shot through his skull, and he fell back upon the pillow, moaning with agony.

"Oh, Jack, I'm so glad you're OK! I was so worried about you!" Tooth sighed, wrapping her arms around Jack in a humungous bear hug.

Jack grinned, disguising the fact that Tooth's embrace was hurting his already sore ribs. "Yeah…Just back off a little, ok? I can barely breathe," Jack coughed.

Tooth immediately fluttered off to the side. "Sorry," she apologized sheepishly.

"It's okay," Jack wearily replied. He lay back and let his eyes travel around the room as he tried to figure out where he was. He was lying in a huge bed covered with thick blankets and arctic animal pelts. Besides Tooth, Sandy, Bunny, and North were standing around the bed, looking at him with mixed expressions of relief and concern. A few yetis and elves stood nearby, their eyes filled with both uncertainty and joy.

Jack guessed that he was probably in North's bedroom, judging by the size of the bed and the half-finished toys and ice sculptures scattered across the room like marbles. He wasn't sure why he was there, but he was glad to see the other Guardians after his horrific nightmare. He needed to be sure that what had happened was nothing more than a bad dream, and although he still felt a lingering sense of dread, for the moment he was relieved that he wasn't really gone after all.

North's jolly Russian accent broke through Jack's thoughts like a hand snapping a twig in half. "Jack Frost, is good to see you awake again. How are you feeling?" he asked gently.

"Terrible," Jack answered honestly. He made a valiant attempt to sit up, but his relentless aches forced him to remain still. "I-I don't know what happened after the Nightmares grabbed me," Jack admitted. He paused for a few moments as he coughed violently into his arm. When he took his arm away, he glanced down and realized that a few drops of what seemed to be liquid ice stained his sleeve. "C-could you tell me why I'm in here and what happened to Pitch after I saved him?"

Sandy began to form pictures over his head to explain, but they were moving so rapidly that Jack couldn't make sense of them. He shrugged helplessly, wishing that his head wasn't so fuzzy so he could understand Sandy. Then again, Jack had trouble figuring out what Sandy was saying even when he wasn't injured.

Luckily, North understood and began to explain to Jack what had happened after Jack had been dragged down by the Nightmares. "After the Nightmares dragged you away, Tooth flew down and fought them. After a while, she flew back up with you in her arms…and you weren't moving. Was worried that maybe you didn't make it. But Tooth said you were still breathing, so we took you back to the sleigh and brought you back here. I thought we should keep you here so you would be safe. The Yetis found some old books and we were able to make some potions to save you. But even then, you still wouldn't wake up. You've been here for two and a half days. Because of what you did, winter is behind schedule and you have two days of work to do to stop the world from going haywire with the seasons."

"T-two and a half days?" Jack stammered. He was so shocked that he barely even heard the last part of North's explanations. He'd known that releasing that powerful wave of energy would have a major impact on him, but he'd never have guessed that it would be _that _bad. He felt guilty that he'd thrown off the seasons, but if he'd had a chance to go back in time, he would've still done the same thing. Then again, perhaps he'd just caused more trouble for the Guardians by saving Pitch from a terrible fate.

Suddenly, the world began to spin. Jack moaned and squeezed his eyes shut, taking deep breaths and willing the spinning to go away. Now was _not _the time to go passing out again. He needed to catch up with the seasons so that they would function properly, not to mention try to explain to the Guardians why he'd done what he'd done. It wouldn't be easy, but Jack hoped that they would understand and forgive him for what he had done-or at least try to.

"You all right down there, mate?" Bunny asked. His worried voice broke through Jack's thoughts and brought him back to the real world, reminding him that he'd have to deal with his personal demons another time.

Jack looked up at the grumpy buck rabbit and gave a feeble smile. "Yeah, I'm okay-"Jack started, but he started coughing again before he could finish his answer. He continued to cough violently for several minutes before he finally settled back down again. When he was finished, he noticed that more of the same freezing liquid coated his sleeve like ice on a pond. Curious, Jack lifted his sleeve to his face in order to get a better look. A strange bittersweet scent drifted from the liquid, and it seemed to be in the process of freezing. However, when he touched it, it felt curiously warm, and he could taste an odd tang in his mouth that seemed similar to the unusual odor of the liquid.

Jack didn't notice that North was also looking at his sleeve until the giant Cossack bellowed, "Tchaikovsky! What is _that_?!"

Before Jack could explain, North grabbed his arm and yanked it up close to his face. He stared at the peculiar droplets for some time before dropping Jack's arm again and sighing. "Looks like the Yetis will have to brew up some more of those healing potions. Is a pity. Only a few more months left until Christmas….Jack, if this keeps up, then I'm going to have _you _paint the toys this year."

Despite his malaise, Jack laughed heartily. "Sorry, North. Guess I'm still on the naughty list this year, huh?" he joked.

"You were _always _on the naughty list, Jack. Just because you are Guardian does not mean that you can get away with everything!" North winked. He started to walk out of the room, but paused as he reached the doorway and turned to look back at Jack. "Is there anything I can get for you?"

Jack abashedly looked down at his hands, trying to cover the fact that he was blushing at North's generosity. "Nah, I'm okay. I just kind of want to be alone right now," he admitted.

"Okay then. But if you need anything, let me know," North replied. He gave Jack a fatherly look that made Jack's cheeks feel even hotter before he left the room and gently shut the door. Only Bunny, Tooth, and Sandy were left in the room, but as Jack settled himself back in North's cozy bed, one by one they began to inch their way towards the door. As Sandy passed by, he gave Jack a silent nod and blew some of his dream sand towards Jack.

Jack blinked furiously in an attempt to stay awake, but the power of the sand was too strong and soon he began to feel extremely drowsy. Jack eventually gave in and slowly shut his eyes. As sleep began to drift over him like a lazy wave, he moved his head and felt a tiny lump on the left side of the pillow. A loud squeak pierced the air, and Jack was immediately snapped out of his doze as he frantically shoved the pillow aside. To his surprise, a sleepy Baby Tooth stared up at him, her big innocent eyes wide with shock.

"Baby Tooth?" Jack exclaimed incredulously. As if in reply, Baby Tooth let out a squeal of joy and fluttered up to perch on his shoulder like a petite parrot. She rubbed her fluffy head against his neck and let out a little squeak of pleasure. Jack gently scratched her behind the place on her head where her ears should have been, prompting her to lean even closer into his neck like a contented cat.

Jack looked over to Tooth for an explanation. "What's she doing here? Isn't she supposed to be collecting teeth with the other fairies?" he asked in confusion.

"Well, I tried to take her back to the tooth palace, but she wouldn't let me. She wanted to stay with you. She worried as much about you as the rest of us did, and she didn't leave your side this whole time you were out. Can you believe that? I've never seen her take to someone so easily before," Tooth explained.

Jack smiled and continued to stroke Baby Tooth. "I guess she likes me, huh?" he said.

Tooth gave Jack a shy but beautiful smile in return. "She must know that there's something special about you. You're lucky. She's never been so close to anyone else before. Don't let anything happen to her-she's almost never wrong when she chooses a person like you as her friend. It would be a shame if you let her down."

_It would be a shame if you let her down. _Jack immediately stopped petting Tooth and sunk back on the bed. He'd been so busy cuddling with Baby Tooth that he'd completely forgotten why he was injured in the first place. Jack groaned and buried his face deep in the pillow, unable to face Tooth's indirect accusation. He was sure that she hadn't meant her words to come out that way, but they still remained a painful reminder of the foolish thing he had done.

Although the Guardians seemed willing to let it slide, Jack knew that the only reason that they weren't prying him with questions was that he was too ill to tell them. It would only be a matter of time before the questioning began after he'd recovered completely. Jack suddenly wished that he would never get well. Sure, it was irritating to have to be confined to bed and lie around useless while the other Guardians went about their daily business, but he'd rather be stuck in bed than have to face the inevitable disappointment that the Guardians would feel at his terrible deed.

Even though Jack had just found his center, he felt as though it had disappeared from his sight again, like an elusive fish slipping through a net. How could he call himself a Guardian if he had saved the life of their mortal foe? How would he ever be able to face the others once he'd recovered? What would the children think of him? Jack imagined the look of disappointment that Jamie had surely worn on his face when Jack had saved Pitch, then immediately shoved it aside. As painful as it was to have his integrity doubted by the Guardians, the thought of Jamie distrusting him was even worse.

Jack couldn't figure it out for the life of him, but there was something about that kid that meant the world to him. He felt the same caring protectiveness towards Jamie that he had towards his sister, and if Jamie didn't trust him anymore-well, he might as well have lost his sister again. Jack didn't have the energy to figure out what it meant exactly, but he intended to find out why he had such a strong connection to Jamie once he'd gotten better.

"Something wrong, mate?" Bunny asked, tapping Jack on the shoulder. Startled by the unexpected touch, Jack jumped and sat bolt upright in bed. He could've sworn that Bunny had left the room. To his surprise, Tooth, Sandy, and Bunny were all looking down at him with concern. Even Baby Tooth looked up at him as she hovered next to him, looking as though she wished she could speak and ask him what the matter was.

"Nah, I'm okay. I'm just-really tired, that's all. You know, ice magic is so draining and everything," Jack lied. He tried to smile, but he could tell that the other Guardians wouldn't buy it. Still, he hoped that it would be enough to convince them to let him be. Everything that had happened since he'd rescued Pitch had morphed into a muddy gray blur, and he needed some time to himself to work it all out.

"Well, all right. But crikey, don't try anything like that again. We can't afford to lose you when Pitch is on the loose," Bunny advised. He gestured towards the door to the other Guardians before tapping the ground twice with his enormous foot. A tunnel immediately opened in the ground, leading down to the depths of Bunny's Easter-egg paradise. The tough Aussie rabbit managed a quick wave good-bye before he leaped down the hole, leaving only a beautiful flower where the tunnel had once been.

Sandy made an incomprehensible gesture to Jack, pointing at a picture of a moon above his head. Although Jack still couldn't entirely understand what he meant, he figured that Sandy probably wanted to know if he should use his dream dust on Jack again. "It's fine, Sandy. I can go to sleep on my own. But thanks anyway," Jack replied. Perhaps Jack had understood Sandy for once, though, because the Sandman nodded amiably before he floated gracefully from the room.

Jack smiled once more as he laid his head on the pillow and closed his weary eyes. He felt Baby Tooth flit past him, her delicate wings brushing against his cheek, and land on his shoulder to snuggle up with him again. As he slowly drifted off into dreamland, he felt a tender hand brush his bangs away from his forehead. Since the other Guardians had left the room, Jack figured that Tooth was the one stroking his hair. Normally, he would have blushed and tried to push her away, but this time he was so exhausted that he let Tooth continue to run her fingers through his icy hair. He could have sworn that she was humming as her hand continued to run through its soothing motions.

He wasn't sure why Tooth had stayed behind, but a pang of guilt crept through him as he entered sleep. Although she was tender now, she probably wouldn't be so kind once Jack had told the Guardians why he'd saved Pitch. Sure, they'd been invisible too when Pitch had extinguished the belief of the children, but they'd never known the lonely ache that had haunted him for years. All they would see was a turncoat who didn't deserve the noble title of Guardian. Jack would have pondered more, but at that instant sleep wrapped around him like a blanket. Jack immediately tumbled into a chasm full of feverish nightmares where he struggled to fight Pitch, but was unable to resist as the boogeyman dragged Jack into the blackness that shrouded him, laughing as the other Guardians and Jamie looked on in shock at their betrayer.


End file.
